BERKELEY — Pacific Steel Casting has settled a second lawsuit over allegations it is not doing enough to curb pollution at its Second Street foundry.

In the latest settlement, the company agreed to pay the Bay Area Air Quality Management District $150,000 and to install a hood to capture particulates coming out of one of its three plants. After Pacific Steel gets permits to install the new hood, it has nine months to complete construction, according to the air district.

“Even though the lawsuit is settled, we will be there to make sure the terms and conditions of the lawsuit are complied with and to ensure they are not violating any other emissions requirements through any of the permits they hold with the district,” said Karen Schkolnick, a spokeswoman for the air district.

Berkeley residents have complained for years about a foul odor emanating from the plant, an emission they suspect is unhealthy.

The air district sued Pacific Steel in August 2006 alleging it failed to meet deadlines for reporting how much it pollutes and for installing a carbon filter device on one of its plants.

Pacific Steel settled a different lawsuit in January with Communities for a Better Environment over allegations it violated the federal Clean Air Act. In that settlement, the company agreed to pay $350,000 to fund air pollution reduction measures for three years and to eschew dirty or oily scrap metal when making new steel castings.

The company also agreed to start using a new binder that holds together its steel casting molds, and is seeking permits from the air district to start using the binder. The company suspects the binder it uses causes the offensive odors.

Meanwhile, 14 small-claims cases against Pacific Steel are moving through Alameda County Superior Court. Those cases were brought by Berkeley residents who claim the company is a public nuisance because the smell has interfered with the enjoyment of their lives and property. Each is seeking the maximum $7,500 penalty from Pacific Steel. The next hearing is May 30.

Pacific Steel said the court-ordered changes are helping it clean up its act.

“All of these things together will add up to a significant reduction (in pollution),” company spokeswoman Elisabeth Jewel said. “It’s a huge step forward.”

But community activists who have been fighting the company are not satisfied yet.

“These things look really good on paper, but they are not getting at the root of the problem,” said Denny Larson, executive director of Global Community Monitoring, which has a $25,000 air district grant to independently test the air around the foundry. “You need to start at the end of the pipe and see what’s coming out, then rethink the whole process from the beginning.”

Larson said changing the binders is a good example of the process being rethought.

“But there are other points in their process that create pollution,” Larson said. “You have to look at everything in the process.”

L.A. Wood, a Berkeley activist and a Pacific Steel watchdog for a decade, called the $150,000 settlement with the air district “chump change.”

“No matter what you put on the plant for emission suppression, you have to be reminded that it is a foundry, and it will always be a foundry with no buffer to a residential area,” Wood said. “What a reality. And there are four child care centers nearby.”